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Planning a day at the beach? Getting to DC-area beaches isn't exactly a breeze

The beach is out of reach for many DC residents, but it didn't used to be that way.

COLESVILLE, Md. — If you’re dreaming of ditching the city on these last weeks of summer to hit the beach, you might find that getting there isn’t exactly a breeze.

For many who depend on public transit, the beach is out of reach.

City Lab staff writer Linda Poon said when she looked into transit options, she was surprised.

"You have to transfer at least six buses, throughout Waldorf, down to Southern Maryland.It’s a very roundabout way and it would take me five hours 41 minutes, according to google," Poon said.

Poon said D.C. isn’t alone: big and small cities across the United States struggle to provide cheap public transit to the beach.

In California, one study found the biggest barrier for enjoying the beach was the cost and hassle of getting there in the first place

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"Two-thirds of California voters say that’s one of the major barriers to getting to the beaches," Poon said.

From D.C., there's a commuter bus during the weekdays, but it doesn’t run on the weekends. Poon said the cheapest way was about $40 round trip.

"D.C. is pretty close to the water, we're on the coast," Poon said. "And so the best things I could find were private bus companies which are very helpful, but they are $40 round trip and when you think about the low income people who live in D.C. and around the area that’s just not an option, especially if you're bringing the whole family." 

It wasn’t always so hard to get to the beach. Back in 1898, beach-goers had optionsWesley Cox, president of  the National Capitol Trolley Museum, said D.C.'s streetcars once connected to an express train line.

"The steam train would get you to the beach in about an hour and it would have cost you about 50 cents in those days," Cox said. "I’ve heard that that may be equivalent to about $15 now.”

That trolley and steamtrain line went under during the depression of the 1930s and never recovered after the introduction of cars.

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